7 Darth Maul Stories You Should Read

Not since the height of the Phantom Menace hype back in 1999 has Darth Maul been this popular. His return to the Star Wars Universe via the animated show The Clone Wars has brought Darth Maul back into the public consciousness. To top that off, a brand new Darth Maul novel has been announced and will be released in 2014. But we don’t have to wait until 2014 for some great Darth Maul stories. The Expanded Universe is filled with them.

If you have gotten caught up in the current Darth Maul hype, and you just can’t get enough of that tattooed Zabrak, here are 7 stories from the Star Wars Expanded Universe you must check out.

Star Wars: Darth MaulThis was a series of comics that ran in 2000 and told the story of Darth Maul being sent by Darth Sidious to take out the leadership of the Black Sun criminal organization. Interesting that Maul would eventually do this again in The Clone Wars TV show, although in a much easier fashion. This is one of my favorite comic stories from Dark Horse and features the amazing artwork of Jan Duursema. As a bonus Drew Struzan did the cover art. You can now find this story in a collected trade paper back and it is also available digitally.

Marked
From 1999 to 2005 Dark Horse Comics published Star Wars Tales. These were really cool. Each issue would contain a handful of stories which ranged from serious to funny to the extremely ridiculous. In issue #24 there was a 12-page story called Marked which featured Darth Maul. The apprentice is sent by Sidious to kill a Force-user who is posing a threat. Maul finds the Force-user is a Drovian named Silus and he is a competitive fighter. Maul must enter the competition and face the fighter. But does Sidious really want to eliminate this Force-user or is he seeking out a new apprentice? Look for some really cool flashbacks of a young Darth Maul in training in this story.

Darth Maul: Shadow HunterIf you are a fan of Darth Maul you must read this novel. Released in 2001 and written by Michael Reeves, Shadow Hunter tells the story of Darth Maul’s hunt to retrieve a holocron which contains information that may reveal Darth Sidious’ evil plans. The man on the run from Maul is Lorn Pavan, an information broker who is in over his head. Pavan’s son Jax will go on to be featured in the Coruscant Nights books as well as the upcoming novel The Last Jedi.

Resurrection
This is one of the more off-the-wall Darth Maul stories. The 48-page story can be found in Star Wars Tales #9 and gives us the chance to see a face-off between Darth Vader and Darth Maul. Vader is hunting down stolen plans for the Death Star and comes across some Prophets of the Dark Side. These prophets have taken it upon themselves to resurrect Darth Maul and of course a lightsaber battle ensues. Sure it is a bit ridiculous but it’s a fun quick read.

The Wrath of Darth MaulThis is the closest thing to a Darth Maul biography we have. It tells the story of Maul from him being a toddler, to his training under Darth Sidious, to his apparent death on Naboo, to his resurrection. Since this book was released in 2012 it has the advantage of being able to pull from all the Darth Maul stories that had come before as well as The Clone Wars TV series. This is a young adult novel so it is written at that level but even adults should find this story intriguing.

Old Wounds
Back before The Clone Wars TV series decided to bring Darth Maul back and give him robotic legs this had already been done in the 2005 story Old Wounds. This was a story found in the pages of the Star Wars: Visionaries, a collection of stories written and drawn by concept artists who worked on Revenge of the Sith. The story is that Darth Maul somehow survived being cut in half and has been tracking down Obi-Wan. He eventually catches up with him on Tatooine while Obi-Wan is protecting Luke at the Lars Homestead. This story is actually really cool and the artwork by Aaron McBride is amazing. The Darth Maul design from this comic heavily influenced (meaning it’s almost exact) the look of Maul in The Clone Wars show.

Darth Maul: Death SentenceThe Clone Wars brought Darth Maul back from the dead in Season Four, but we really only got a tease with him showing up right at the end of the season. Then we were left wondering what was happening with him between Season Four and Season Five. Death Sentence tells that story. A four-issue series from Dark Horse Comics, Death Sentence is written by Tom Taylor and has great art by Bruno Redondo. In the series Maul and his brother Savage Opress are wreaking havoc in the Outer Rim and a team of Jedi are sent to track them down. But the Jedi aren’t the only people the brothers have to worry about. A corrupt mine owner and his mercenaries also want them dead.

So before you watch The Clone Wars this Saturday and (maybe) find out Maul’s ultimate fate, check out some of these stories to get a full appreciation of the character.